364 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



broad black borders. Some black on the postoculars and loreal. 

 The last two or three inferior labials maculated with black. 



There are three color varieties of this species. Two of these 

 varieties are represented in Kansas. In one the ground color 

 is so dark that the spots are obscured ; in the other the ground 

 color is light and the spots are very distinct. 



Head distinct from body. Body thick. Tail from one-fourth 

 to two-ninths of the total length. This is the largest Garter 

 Snake in Kansas. One now in this laboratory is thirty-four 

 inches in length. It is slow in its movements and seldom at- 

 tempts to bite. 



It has a wider distribution and occurs in greater numbers 

 than any other Kansas Garter Snake. I have examined speci- 

 mens from Geary, Lyon, Douglas, Franklin, Mitchell, Clay, 

 Republic, Ellis, Rawlins, Wallace, Scott, Logan, Gove and 

 Riley counties. 



Eutaenia elegans Baird and Girard. 



Boyd's Garter Saake. 



Eutaenia elegans Baird and Girard, Cat. Kept. N. Amer., Pt. I., Serp., 1853, 

 p. 34. 



Tropidonotus vagrans Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I, 1893, p. 202. 



Only one variety of elegans occurs in Kansas. Cope ( 10. 

 1034)* gives eight varieties as occurring in North America. 

 Brown (5. 22) gives five varieties. His key to the subspecies 

 is as follows : 



a. — Post-oral crescent absent: 



Color dark; spots and lateral stripes often indistinct. 



E. elegans elegans. 



Color lighter; spots encroaching on stripes.. . .E. elegans vagrans. 



Often 2 preoculars and 23 rows ; otherwise like vagrans. 



E. elegans biscutata. 

 b. — Post-oral crescent present: 



Spots and stripes distinct E. elegans marciana. 



Spots and stripes indistinct or absent E. elegans couchi. 



Eutaenia elegans vagrans Baird and Girard. 



Wandering Garter Snake. 



Eutaenia vagrans Baird and Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Rept., Pt. I, Serp., 1853, 

 p. 35. 



Tropidonotus vagrans Boulenger, Cat. Snakes Brit. Mus., I, 1893, p. 202. 



Tham^iojjhis vagrans Stejneger, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 7, p. 213. 



♦First number refers to bibliography number printed at the end of this bulletin; second 

 number refers to the page of the cited publication. 



